British Airways (BA) could make a return to Dar es Salaam once market conditions are conducive, the Deputy British High Commissioner to Tanzania, Julian Chandler, has said. British Airways pulled its three times weekly service to the Tanzanian capital on March 31.
According to Mr Chandler who was speaking in Dar es Salaam during a UK-Tanzania business relations press conference earlier this week, BA "had not gone for good" but was waiting for market conditions on the route to improve.
“Once the environment is conducive we will surely resume the flights,” she [sic] said. “We were disappointed by the airline’s decision to pull out of Tanzania’s commercial capital in the wake of recent discoveries of oil and gas deposits along the southern coast line of Tanzania which could bring a whole new range of investment opportunities for companies from overseas, potentially flying with BA,” she narrated adding, “We should however understand that the company was operating under difficult conditions which ultimately affected its performance.”
“Be rest assured that BA has not gone for good. There’s a chance that it will resume services as soon as the environment in Dar es Salaam is condusive,” she said.
Source [The Guardian]
British Airways' justification for the axing of the flights that "they don't make a profitable contribution to our business," was vindicated with surveys showing that "large number of tourists from UK were already using other airlines like Emirates (EK), Qatar Airways (QR) and Ethiopian Airlines (ET)" which have daily flights to Tanzania.
Since BA's departure, the Tanzanian Government has confirmed it is in talks with British carrier Virgin Atlantic (VS) over the possible launch of flights between the United Kingdom and the East African country though nothing concrete has yet been confirmed.
